Captain Sam's:
There wasn't too much activity this morning, even our usual 7/11 Big Gulp of Tree Swallows had made their way farther down to the end of the spit. However, we still managed to band 36 new birds including a Golden-crowned Kinglet, an Eastern Towhee, and a lingering Black-throated Blue Warbler and Painted Bunting. The Painted Bunting was interesting though because the few remaining ones we have banded recently are all in the process of replacing their old primary and secondary feathers with new ones, while this individual hadn't even completed molting in its greater coverts yet. In between net runs, we spent our time repairing the last few nets, proofing some data, and catching up on reading.
-Katie
Little Bear:
Something I've been waiting a long time for finally happened today. For weeks now, Sharp-shinned Hawk reports have been popping up on my eBird needs alerts for Charleston County. Multiple times the Captain Sam's crew has had one fly over when I've been at Little Bear and-- the biggest insult-- they even caught one. Meanwhile, I've not even gotten a whiff of one of these pint-sized accipiters. A brief flyover raptor at Little Bear provided a tantalizing chance, but nothing came of it. That is, until today, when I rounded the corner of net 18 to find a strange, small bird struggling in the bottom pocket. My brain couldn't figure out what it was for a couple seconds and then it all clicked-- SSHA (pronounced Shh-SHA)!
Boom. Immature male Sharp-shinned Hawk. A 91.5 gram songbird-slaying torpedo. Adorable.
-Aidan
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Sharp-shinned Hawk | - | - | 1 | - |
Eastern Phoebe | 3 | - | - | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | - | 1 | 1 | - |
Golden-crowned Kinglet | 1 | - | - | - |
House Wren | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Gray Catbird | 2 | 2 | - | 3 |
Song Sparrow | 3 | - | 2 | 1 |
Swamp Sparrow | 1 | - | - | - |
Eastern Towhee | 1 | - | - | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 3 | - | 1 | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Palm Warbler (Western) | 4 | - | 2 | - |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | 15 | 1 | 3 | - |
Painted Bunting | 1 | - | - | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 36 | 11 | 47 |
| # of Recaptures | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| # of Species | 13 | 8 | 14 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 150.0 | 96.6 | 246.6 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 26.0 | 15.5 | 41.5 |
| # of Nets | 30 | 23 | - |
| 2022 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 4,294 | 2,678 | 6,972 |
| # of Recaptures | 1,056 | 608 | 1,664 |
| # of Species | 77 | 76 | 92 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 1,0410.4 | 5,364.5 | 15,774.9 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 51.4 | 61.25 | 54.7 |
| # of Days | 69 | 60 | - |
Banding Staff
Brendan Wang (LB)
